It has been two years since an event than has caused a bit of frustration and many jokes among those who know of it. Because of this anniversary, it is appropriate to tell the story again to all who are not yet aware of it.
In July 2010 some friends and I were in Vernal, Utah to support a friend who was getting married. At one point we decided to visit the local reservoir to swim. My younger brother Brock was already at the lake and was doing some fishing while drinking a Mountain Dew. We ended up swimming and snorkeling (which was pointless because the water was terribly murky) for a few minutes before Brock joined us. At some point during this party, Brock had finished his drink, filled the bottle with lake water, and jokingly tossed the bottle into the lake in the general direction of Joshua Cottrell. Josh proceeded to pick up the bottle and toss it just a bit deeper in the direction of nobody.
After spending an hour or two in the lake we decided to return home. We all gathered our belongings and hiked up a small trail to the vehicles. When we arrived at the parking lot, some sort of officer (fish and game, park ranger, who knows?) was waiting for us. He was in the process of writing Brock a ticket for littering, which seemed warranted; Brock had left the bottle in the lake after throwing it towards Josh. However, when the ticket to Brock was completed, he began writing up Josh for the same offense. Not only was this a second littering ticket, this was a littering ticket for the same Mountain Dew bottle that Brock just got a ticket for.
During the semi-heated conversation (which everyone joined in on) with the officer, we learned that he had been on the opposite side of the lake watching us with his binoculars. He had seen Brock throw the bottle, Josh pick up the bottle, Josh throw it deeper, and all of us walk away, leaving the bottle in the lake. At that point he drove around the lake to issue the citations.
A citation was warranted; the bottle was left in the lake when we left. However, did both Brock and Josh deserve a littering ticket? No. It was one bottle. One of them deserved a ticket.
Does trash become the property of whoever touches it last? If so, Josh deserved the ticket. If not, it was originally Brock's bottle. Once it was finished it became trash--Brock's trash. Brock deserved the ticket.
"This raises an interesting philosophical question: when does litter become litter?"1 Either way, thank you, Uintah Basin enforcers of the law, for giving us a story for the rest of our lives.
1From Bryce Gessell upon learning of these happenings.